I'll try to edit this later, but from what I recall the testing done by AFM and Tom A have shown the M4s to only be Ok. In fact the only good tires mich made were the m3 lights. Will ammend later with links.

never ordered from PBK. But if I do get hit for custom's it would be cheaper to just got to my LBS. Even some Canadian "sites". I ordered a tri-top and jersey from TriVillage.ca. A castelli prologo HD for $59 and Zoot Tri-Top for $49. Hell of a deal until I had to pay $44 customs. My LBS has some Michelin Pro4 Comp's for $69 and I get a 15% discount there so I may just go that route. Currently on Continental Ultra Sport's that came with my bike

that sucks. My LBS doesn't carry Continentals but they're expanding so hopefully they can bring in some GP 4000 S's. Right now my option is the Michelin's or Specialized Turbo Elite. Our roads are pretty bad here and I'm nervous of getting flats. I heard the Continental GP 4000 S is a perfect blend of fast and tough.

I think that's the danish price in DKK just converted to USD. I know the price for a set in Norway is close to 100USD at the cheapest local webshop. And that's relatively speaking a really good price considering the overall expense level and the quality of the tyres.

Nice, tires are always my first upgrade recommendation on a new bike. Nothing else will change the ride quality, handling, or speed of a bike as drastically as a tireswap.

Despite the numbers, I do love my GP 4 Seasons on my commuter. Roll faster, weigh less, and are more comfortable than my old Gatorskins but cost more. No flats in over a thousand miles of having them installed. Great all around tire but obviously not the fastest tire in the Conti lineup.

GP4 Seasons are really great to avoid flats. I use them for the late autumn, winther, and early spring here in Denmark, because a lot of stupidly sharp flint stones are all over the side of the roads at those times. I have been saved a lot of times by those tires. I use GP4000 S for the rest of the spring to late autumn, and im gaining like 2-3 km/h on same roads and distances in speed, but i do also get more flats on them (1 every 3000-4000 km, while the GP4 Seasons still needs to give me my first flat after 10000 km).

Thanks much for this post. It really helped me. I read the article and went to look at my tires. Sure enough, GP4 Seasons. I went to my LBS and they were having a 40% off sale so I had them replace my tires with the GP4000 S. Sure enough, tonight I finally finished with the pack at the 4/5 Thursday night road race in my area. Actually I was filling frisky enough that I jumped at the one mile mark and led out the guy who won the race after giving him a big gap on the group. Thanks again, if you are ever in Seattle racing, I owe you a lead out to the finish line.

I have been doing all of my road rides and training on 4 seasons. A circuit race series starts up soon(basically a crit) and have been thinking of throwing on a set of the 4000s for races. I have never ran them before so hoping for a bit of "wow" factor on race day :)

Sage advice for sure, however I am always a rolling liability. :) I guess I should have noted that I would absolutely run them prior to race day. Never do anything new on race day, is a recipe for disaster. Wisdom hard earned on my first half marathon race when I decided to try a different brand of gel since they had it on hand... big mistake! :)

THIS. New tires will still be slick with the mold release agent that keeps the rubber from sticking to the molds and presses used in manufacturing. New tires are awesome but especially if the road is damp can be a bit of a liability. I'm willing to bet that a lot of new bike crashes on the first ride are caused by still slick tires.

Why do people only consider aerodynamics in wheels? It is a factor, sure, but not all of us ride TTs or breakaways.

What about hub quality, stiffness, spoke material/tension? All those have TREMENDOUS effects on speed or ride quality. Sure good tires are essential, but if you think wheels are all about being aero, you're a dingus.

race tires and tubes is a totally reasonable expense, and is something you actually FEEL with your bike, as opposed to pretty much every other upgrade you could do. Almost everyone can tell the difference between 300 TPI open tubulars and 20 tpi wire bead tires.